Theresa Briones is a tender, loving mother. She also has a stout left hook that she used to punch a lady in a coin laundry. Why'd she do it?
Some kids were making fun of Theresa's daughter, Alicia.
Alicia is bald. Her knees are arthritic. Her nose is pinched. Her hips are creaky. Her hearing is bad. She has the stamina of a seventy-year-old. And she is only ten.
"Mom," the kids taunted, "come and look at the monster!"
Alicia weighs only twenty-two pounds and is shorter than most preschoolers. She suffers from progeria - a genetic aging disease that strikes one child in eight million. The life expectancy of progeria vctims is twenty years. There are only fifteen known cases of this disease in the world.
"She is not an alien. She is not a monster," Theresa defended. "She is just like you and me."
Mentally, Alicia is a bubbly, fun-loving third grader. She has a long list of friends. She watches television in a toddler-sized rocking chair. She plays with Barbie dolls and teases her younger brother.
Theresa has grown accustomed to the glances and questions. She is patient with the constant curiosity. Genuine inquiries she accepts. Insensitive slanders she does not.
The mother of the pointing children came to investigate. "I see it," she told the kids.
"My child is not an 'it,'" Theresa stated. Then she decked the woman.
Who could blame her? Such is the nature of parental love. Mothers and fathers have a God-given ability to love their children regardless of imperfections. Not because the parents are blind. Just the opposite. They see vividly.
Theresa sees Alicia's inablility as clearly as anyone. But she also sees Alicia's value.
...What did Jesus know that enabled him to do what he did?
Here's part of the answer. He knew the value of people. He knew that each human being is a treasure. And because he did, people were not a source of stress, but a source of joy.
God offers salvation to everyone. If you find yourself judging others, remember that God values them. Think of what you can do to show God's love to the unlovely.
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Isn't it great to know that God loves us no matter what? It doesn't matter what we've done, what we've said, who we know, who we don't know... He has seen everything we've done, heard everything we've said...He even knows who we do and don't know. And still, just like a loving, bragging parent, God loves us.
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